The latest research looked at a part of the brain called the olfactory bulb, which processes information about smell. Connecting the olfactory bulb and the nasal cavity is the olfactory nerve. Some researchers worry the olfactory pathway may also be an entry point for microplastics getting into the brain, beyond the olfactory bulb. Mauad and her team took samples of olfactory bulb tissue from 15 cadavers of people who died between the ages of 33 and 100. The presence of microplastics in the olfactory bulb doesn’t automatically mean there are microplastics elsewhere in the brain, such as regions related to cognition.

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Persons: ”, Thais Mauad, Mauad, ” Mauad, “, Matthew Campen, ” Campen, wasn’t, Campen, it’s, Mary Johnson, Harvard T.H, Johnson Organizations: JAMA, microplastics, University of São Paulo Medical School, University of New, Harvard, of Public Health Locations: Brazil, University of New Mexico, Chan